CLEVELAND –Another person has been sentenced to prison for being part of the massive failure of St. Paul Croatian FCU here. Svetislav Vujovic, 42, has been sentenced to more than nine years in prison for illegally receiving more than $3 million from St. Paul Croatian FCU in exchange for cash payments to the credit union's one-time COO, according to authorities. Vujovic was found guilty earlier this year on all 14 counts against him, including 10 counts of making false statements to a federal credit union, two counts of money laundering and one count each of financial institution fraud and giving gifts for procuring loans.
Vujovic was part of a scheme that included approximately 20 people and which in 2010 helped to sink SPCFCU, the largest-ever natural-person credit union failure, which cost the NCUSIF an estimated $186 million. The failure also devastated a local ethnic community.
Vujovic was charged for aiding and abetting Anthony Raguz, the former CEO of the Eastlake, Ohio-based St. Paul Croatian and for his role in obtaining bogus loans representing approximately $3 million between 2004 and 2008. Vujovic obtained the loans even after defaulting on earlier loans with the credit union; the loans were made to companies with names such as Cleveland Comfort Corp; SND, Inc.; Balkan Contracting, and Balkan Enterprise, Inc. The credit union lost approximately $3 million as a result of Vujovic's fraudulent conduct. Authorities said Vujovic gave Raguz approximately $20,000 for approving the loans. Raguz is currently serving a 14-year sentence in federal prison.
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